Guru Madhavan

📦 THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. 📖 This #EngineersWeek, I'm pleased to announce 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗫: 𝗘𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 (@wwnorton, April 26, 2026), drawn from "Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World."

🚀 My latest in @IEEESpectrum on Robert Goddard: from innovation to isolation, and how leaders can escape the alpha trap—when the stubbornness that helps a pioneer survive skepticism begins to hinder collaboration as the work grows. #engineering @IEEEorg spectrum.ieee.org/robert-goddard…

🔧 Engineers see friction as a design feature, not a flaw. A shock absorber adds weight and complexity—yet without it, the suspension shakes itself apart. Not all resistance is waste, some of it protects systems from their own speed. #engineering

(1/3) Guru Madhavan (@BioengineerGM) reverences the world and all that is in it. Guru is an engineer, but his conception of engineering is more vast than we typically assign to the role.

📘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗫 reinvigorates the legacy of an engineer who transformed our access to the skies, the stars, and the sea. Preorder: wwnorton.com/books/97813241… And thank you, as always. 🙏🏼 #engineering #innovation #creativity #society #aviation #engineersweek #eweek2026

🧠 The confinement in his blue box gave trainees the consciousness of the many angles from which a problem can be approached. "If you are going to build these things," Link said, "you have to have the integrity to test them yourself."

📦 THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. 📖 This #EngineersWeek, I'm pleased to announce 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗫: 𝗘𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 (@wwnorton, April 26, 2026), drawn from "Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World."

In a Perspective, three engineers propose an expansive mode of engineering practice that seeks to reduce conflict. According to the authors, peace engineering requires competence, capability, and character. In PNAS Nexus: ow.ly/rFW750Y7Fk3

The beauty of friction ft.trib.al/K7dUsiY

The beauty of friction ft.trib.al/ZD9cchL | opinion

💡Good #engineering removes friction that impedes and conserves friction that informs. We often miss that nuance. But suppressing friction comes with its own risks; we lose the feedback that taught us how to feel the world.

⚙️ THE BEAUTY OF FRICTION 📰 In my latest for the @FT, I explore why GLP-1 and GPT should force us to ask: which kinds of frictions deserve to stay? 🔗Read here (ft.com/content/f9d6e0…) or 👇🏼

Pleased to draw insights from Albrecht Dürer on how measurement must support human judgment, never supplant it.

Do numbers still mean what they’re supposed to measure? And what did Dürer understand about measurement 500 years ago that feels very relevant today? 🖼️ Select woodcuts & prints by Dürer, all public domain, via the Art Institute of Chicago, The Met, & the British Museum.

✈️ Frequent-flyer “miles” don’t measure miles anymore. We still call them that anyway. It’s a telling inconsistency that hints at a larger issue. 🗞️ In my @FT (@ftweekend) piece, starring Albrecht Dürer, I explore a few things. 🔗 Read here (ft.com/content/5e98d1…) or⬇️

The @RAEngNews honors the people who advance our profession, and it also honors the equations that have shaped the world. Along one of its walls, these eqns. show how we make sense of nature & improve life with precision and purpose. Take a moment to look them up. #engineering

Stoppard and Wilson's conversation is about how both scales are real, and both deserve attention. Extended Interview: davidsloanwilson.world/online-content… "Unto Others" by Sober & Wilson: hup.harvard.edu/books/97806749… "Multilevel Cultural Evolution" by Wilson et al, 2023: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

This tension shows up in engineering too. Some focus on the user's immediate experience. Others think about the whole system. Good #engineering needs both perspectives, or you build something that feels right but doesn't work, or works but feels wrong.

"The Hard Problem" of User and System Tom Stoppard's passing invites reflection on his 2015 exchange with evolutionist @David_S_Wilson. As Stoppard developed his play "The Hard Problem," Wilson's (and Elliott Sober's) work on altruism shaped his thinking theguardian.com/books/2015/may…